W211 Brake light problems

[Pauljames]

Have a 2006 W211 saloon car, brake lights on both side as at the rear are not working - the backup lights are coming on instead, I've replaced both bulb holder units and bulbs for new and still no change...

The High level boot light works ok....

At one point the drivers side brake light was working correctly, then after a few seconds the bulb would go out and the backup lights on both sides came on.
Also I notice that only 1 of the indicator bulbs lights up on the LHS lamp is lit.

any ideas?

 

[Wighty]

Have a 2006 W211 saloon car, brake lights on both side as at the rear are not working - the backup lights are coming on instead, I've replaced both bulb holder units and bulbs for new and still no change... any ideas?

Getting Star diagnostics or icarsoft , may show a fault that points you in the right direction ?

 

[Botus]

not your point (I expect) just some interesting facts about the way car manu do things

Had a mate with Mk1 golf in RSA, one bulb popped no brakes lights at all... just like we had over here in the 1970s on fords

Thirty plus years of design and safety improvements, my 2008 focus, has no brake lights at all. No warning light in the car and no idea all three where dead !!! Asked the garage that spotted during the MOT, they said dead common the brake light switch is dead. I was like but there are three lights and 2 switches surely ANYONE normal would have the middle high level run off the cruise switch as a back safety circuit?..... Needed the MOT and not happy driving about with no brake lights. Checked the fuses nothing amiss. Its 17:21 and Euro parts 2 miles away, got a switch…. battled like hell to reach either switch what a design! tested nothing wrong with either!!!

Went on a ford forum nothing sensible there.... stuck diagnostics on it and it said short circuit turned off the power for all brake lights !!! Pulled the right light unit off the car, nothing wrong, pulled centre light off the car, nothing wrong.... pulled the left unit off the car, bulb smoked up and dead. Fitted a new bulb all three magically working and error gone in diagnostics.... went on back on the ford forum to rant about mad design and dangerous stupid ways to wire lights up. The one clever ford tech guy chirped up and said he thought it was sensible safety circuit in the can bus to stop the short doing damage….

So the can bus knew all along it had turned off all three brake lights and never bothered to inform the driver..... ought to be a safety recall to write less bad software and tell the driver !!! and even more ridiculous why isn't it mandatory the third light runs on a totally different circuit using the other brake light switch?

 

[Stephen Carr]

I had the same problem, It turned out to be broken wires on passenger side boot hinge, Don’t know if you got it sorted, Hope this helps.

 

[mattkh]

Have a 2006 W211 saloon car, brake lights on both side as at the rear are not working
any ideas?

Must be some sort of a module in the boot playing up.

 

[SHAMGIT]

i have a w211 220cdi facelift 2007 year saloon 195k miles..
has anyone come across this before.

its strange

warning on dash has come up saying that offside stop light has failed so the emergency ones have come on
this happened the first time i put my foot on the brake to put the car into drive after.and i repeat.directly after using wd40 on the boot key lock and the release handle.they were both getting a bit stiff .they are both working ok now manually and electrically .
this seams to be a massive coincidence.
i have pulled out the bulb holder thing and am pretty sure the bulbs are ok
but when i put the stop lights on .the nearside lights up the 2 top ones but the offside only lights up the top one. has any one got any clues. i have used a magnifying glass and can see that all the very fine hard to see filaments at the top of the bulb are intact including the one not lit and i am getting a buzz on my multimetre when i connect on the underside to the terminals on each bulb

any ideas...thanks in anticipation off any replies.

 

[Wighty]

i have a w211 220cdi facelift 2007 year saloon 195k miles..
has anyone come across this before.

its strange

warning on dash has come up saying that offside stop light has failed so the emergency ones have come on
this happened the first time i put my foot on the brake to put the car into drive after.and i repeat.directly after using wd40 on the boot key lock and the release handle.they were both getting a bit stiff .they are both working ok now manually and electrically .
this seams to be a massive coincidence.
i have pulled out the bulb holder thing and am pretty sure the bulbs are ok
but when i put the stop lights on .the nearside lights up the 2 top ones but the offside only lights up the top one. has any one got any clues. i have used a magnifying glass and can see that all the very fine hard to see filaments at the top of the bulb are intact including the one not lit and i am getting a buzz on my multimetre when i connect on the underside to the terminals on each bulb

any ideas...thanks in anticipation off any replies.

Corroded earth point by the light fitting ?

 

[SHAMGIT]

thanks mate i will check that one.i will off course inform all off any success

 

[ajlsl600]

not your point (I expect) just some interesting facts about the way car manu do things

Had a mate with Mk1 golf in RSA, one bulb popped no brakes lights at all... just like we had over here in the 1970s on fords

Thirty plus years of design and safety improvements, my 2008 focus, has no brake lights at all. No warning light in the car and no idea all three where dead !!! Asked the garage that spotted during the MOT, they said dead common the brake light switch is dead. I was like but there are three lights and 2 switches surely ANYONE normal would have the middle high level run off the cruise switch as a back safety circuit?..... Needed the MOT and not happy driving about with no brake lights. Checked the fuses nothing amiss. Its 17:21 and Euro parts 2 miles away, got a switch…. battled like hell to reach either switch what a design! tested nothing wrong with either!!!

Went on a ford forum nothing sensible there.... stuck diagnostics on it and it said short circuit turned off the power for all brake lights !!! Pulled the right light unit off the car, nothing wrong, pulled centre light off the car, nothing wrong.... pulled the left unit off the car, bulb smoked up and dead. Fitted a new bulb all three magically working and error gone in diagnostics.... went on back on the ford forum to rant about mad design and dangerous stupid ways to wire lights up. The one clever ford tech guy chirped up and said he thought it was sensible safety circuit in the can bus to stop the short doing damage….

So the can bus knew all along it had turned off all three brake lights and never bothered to inform the driver..... ought to be a safety recall to write less bad software and tell the driver !!! and even more ridiculous why isn't it mandatory the third light runs on a totally different circuit using the other brake light switch?

Designed to send u to stealer, simples. Tech that takes three times longer to resolve just ain't tech to me, that's it.
U learnt so mat...

 

[Botus]

i have a w211 220cdi facelift 2007 year saloon 195k miles..
has anyone come across this before.

its strange

warning on dash has come up saying that offside stop light has failed so the emergency ones have come on
this happened the first time i put my foot on the brake to put the car into drive after.and i repeat.directly after using wd40 on the boot key lock and the release handle.they were both getting a bit stiff .they are both working ok now manually and electrically .
this seams to be a massive coincidence.
i have pulled out the bulb holder thing and am pretty sure the bulbs are ok
but when i put the stop lights on .the nearside lights up the 2 top ones but the offside only lights up the top one. has any one got any clues. i have used a magnifying glass and can see that all the very fine hard to see filaments at the top of the bulb are intact including the one not lit and i am getting a buzz on my multimetre when i connect on the underside to the terminals on each bulb

any ideas...thanks in anticipation off any replies.

is it as simple as the bulb filament has physically broken off one end - but luck / location / angle its fitted at means gravity is keeping it in place.... I've had them do this quite a lot in last few years - my fathers' merc front indicator was exactly this - looked ok, even measured with resistance the same as the other side - but in driving it bounces off and throws the error

pretty sure if I remember that was the focus' issue too - its now a common failure mode you get - just as well they don't design them to fail like this - ISN'T IT !!!

 

[ajlsl600]

I hope car makers, designers get no where near modern airliners.

 

[SHAMGIT]

been into merc and ordered the 6 bulbs on there plastic card..£60.
that means because off big delays it could be the last week in july before they have it in stock.

it will leave me with 5 good bulbs on the plastic carrier,if thats what its called.

question has anyone managed to remove one from the card or carrier and solder it into place to do a repair .
i do see that its possible to buy the exact same bulb on ebay but that is a no brainer
if you still have 2 good winker yellow bulbs a and 3 clear ones that are all good